For several years now I’ve been asked questions about the emerging church and my feelings about the movement that I am a part of. These questions have always been confusing to me, because I’m not really part of the emerging church. I’m not a pastor, have never been a pastor, and don’t know very much about church or how to do church. I leave church to smarter, more gifted men and women. I honestly don’t think about how people should do church. I have friends who are strongly associated with the emerging church movement, but they will tell you we have never had conversations about church. In fact, they would probably tell you I am completely ignorant about how to do church. I care about writing books. That’s my job. I have no more opinions about how to do church than a plumber. I wrote an essay about it in Blue Like Jazz, but the piece was really from the perspective of the man in the pew, and I’ve never really talked about it since. But I really like my emergent friends. The one thing my very conservative friends and my liberal friends have in common is that they are [...]
So I’m still polishing the book, even though the press is, today, receiving their copies for review. The way a book starts is crucial, and I’ve written and rewritten the first few chapters about fifty times. Still, I’d love your opinion about the way this book starts. It’s a slow start, actually. It takes about three chapters. But if you have time, would you mind taking a look at these three chapters and commenting your thoughts. I can seriously polish the thing for the next week or so. THANKS. Best, Don THREE CHAPTERS
We will ship your dad a gift for Fathers Day. Its only a couple weekends away, so sign up today and your Fathers Day shopping will be done! The Mentoring Project is a non-profit based in Portland that resources and equips churches to start and run mentoring programs. Our goal is to recruit ten-thousand mentors through one-thousand church-based programs as an answer to the American crisis of fatherlessness. All donations are tax deductible. Fathers Day Campaign Video #2 from The Mentoring Project on Vimeo. P.S. Two questions: 1. Which hat looks best? 2. If Trisha and I start a video Podcast in which we answer viewer questions, what questions do you have?
While in Texas last week I visited my friend Catherine Rohr at the prison where she runs Prison entrepreneurship Program. Catherine and I met years ago but connected again recently in Austin and she told me a bit more about what she does. Her program works with mostly violent criminals who are in the last years of their sentencing, and who have passed strenuous testing to be accepted into PEP. These are prisoners who were running gangs or small businesses behind bars, whose skill-set can be converted into healthy entrepreneurial outlets. Once accepted, the state of Texas transfers the prisoners to the Cleveland (TX) unit where they enter into a five-month, intensive experience that changes their lives. After going through security, Catherine and I made our way back to the classroom at the prison, a large, divided room that, on one side contains a computer lab and staff cubicles, and on the other an open room that will comfortably seat 100 or so prisoners. As the prisoners streamed in, I was surprised to be greeted by so many of them with hugs. These men did not seem like hardened criminals. They were soft and courteous and even dignified. Not only were they more [...]
If you haven’t picked up your Fathers Day gift yet, we can help. Potential gifts for your dad include: Autographed Tony Dungy books Autographed copies of The Shack by Paul Young Nooma Videos Autographed copies of The Long Fall Back to Earth by Jars of Clay Autographed Max Lucado books Autographed Randy Alcorn books Autographed Joshua Harris books Autographed Brian Homell books (Chaplain for the Arizona Diamondbacks) LET US SHIP YOUR DAD HIS FATHERS DAY GIFT TODAY! Thanks for thinking of your dad, and for providing a mentor for a young man growing up without a father! Tell your friends about the campaign! Here’s the link: http://www.thementoringproject.org/fathers-day-campaign.html
